Afoot and light-hearted...: !!!!!!

Saturday, August 27, 2011

we're here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Afoot and light-hearted...

The title of our blog comes from Karen's favorite poem. We took the first and last sections as our wedding vows in 1996 and they still are equally relevant today.

Song of the Open Road

By Walt Whitman 1819–1892 Walt Whitman

Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,

Healthy, free, the world before me,

The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,

Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,

Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,

Strong and content I travel the open road...

Allons! the road is before us!

It is safe—I have tried it—my own feet have tried it well—be not detain’d!

Let the paper remain on the desk unwritten, and the book on the shelf unopen’d!

Let the tools remain in the workshop! let the money remain unearn’d!

Let the school stand! mind not the cry of the teacher!

Let the preacher preach in his pulpit! let the lawyer plead in the court, and the judge expound the law.

Camerado, I give you my hand!

I give you my love more precious than money,

I give you myself before preaching or law;

Will you give me yourself? will you come travel with me?

Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?

The Story Behind Torch Umbrella

In 1998 we spent the year working and traveling in Nepal and India. A fellow traveller told us of meeting an Indian holy man while carrying a giant backpack full of "essential" items. The sadu asked to try on the heavy pack which was twice his size. He then smiled and gave the young man the following advise. All you really need to have is a torch and an umbrella. The umbrella will keep you dry in a storm and cool from the sun and the torch will show the way in the darkness. Our friend was inspired by this encounter and spent the next months divesting himself of items from his pack. When we met him, he was carrying a small sack and was a delightful, nimble journeyman. We tried to follow his lead and over the year slowly got down to the most basic supplies in one small backpack. The experience has colored the way we view "stuff" and though we will never be able to live with just a torch and umbrella it remains an aspiration.

Afoot and light-hearted...

Saturday, August 27, 2011

!!!!!!

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